Orientation SSTT 2018!
The Study-Service Theology Term (SSTT) is off to a roaring start, beginning with 48 hours of orientation in and around Goshen College's campus.
Study Service Theology Term
Home Again
All of the SSTT Scholars are home again, settled back in after our whirlwind learning tour in Guatemala. We arrived back on Goshen College’s campus around 5 a.m. Tuesday, slept a few hours, then rose for breakfast and the beginning of several rounds of a workshop with Interim Dean Jo-Ann…
Weekend in Antigua
We spent the weekend in nearby Antigua, a colonial town with buildings/ruins that date back into the 16th and 17th centuries. For about 200 years, beginning in 1543, the town — now designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site — served as the center of the Spanish colony that is now…
Children’s Hospital, Jesus, and Creative Presentations
Today was our last formal day on SEMILLA’s campus, with a morning field trip to Guatemala’s only hospital dedicated to serving children with cancer. The hospital serves about 1,200 children with cancer each year, about 80 percent of whom are under age 10. About 150 children come for treatment each…
Jesus and Women’s Co-Op
Today we had our penultimate session on Jesus and Vocation, and we visited UPAVIM, a women’s co-operative in Guatemala City. We also began the day with an earthquake — the second one since we’ve been here, and one that registered 6.8 on the Richter scale at its epicenter on Guatemala’s…
All is Well at SEMILLA after Earthquake
Just so those following the blog — and international news — know, we are all OK this morning after another earthquake at 6:30 a.m. This is the second earthquake incident in the last few days. At this point we haven’t see what this one registered on the Richter scale, but…
Gangs and Jesus
Today we had extensive and moving sessions on Guatemalan gangs and on Jesus and spiritual imagination, and then we finished the day with group processing of our learnings and a later-evening, balloon-festooned 18th birthday party for Erick. In a recent journal entry, Maura said (quoted with her permission) in relation…
School Visit, Human Rights Lecture, Youth in Guatemala
Today had three significant components, creating what was perhaps our most provocative and moving days thus far in Guatemala City: a visit to Margarita Tejada School, a lecture on human rights in Guatemala, and a lecture about youth experiences in the country. We traveled nearly an hour to a distant…
A Quiet Monday
Today was more quiet than most days, beginning with breakfast and then our 2 1/2-hour morning session on Jesus and vocation. Professor Flores finished by telling about how he had intended to be a sociologist and professor, but that God had called him to be a pastor and also a…
Worship with Casa Horeb Mennonite Church
In her journal following our day around Lago Atitlan, Talia reflected on our visit to ANADESA, the women’s co-op that empowers mothers in the community. Her reference to leaving her stone behind is about students bringing a stone from home to orientation on GC’s campus, with the intention of leaving…